Tuesday, December 15, 2009

House Democrats have scrapped a plan to increase the debt limit by $1.9 trillion this week. From the Washington Post:

House Democratic leaders, bowing to opposition from their party's deficit hawks, have decided to move the final must-pass piece of legislation of the year without a long-term increase to the national debt and a large boost in infrastructure funding that was considered a jobs bill.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Monday evening that the proposal floated last week to increase the debt limit by more than $1.8 trillion had been discarded in favor of a more politically acceptable plan to give the Treasury a two-month extension on its current limit of $12.1 trillion, which it is expected to hit by New Year's Eve. The plan calls for raising the cap by $300 billion to $12.4 trillion, according to a source familiar with the decision.

Perhaps they watched this video produced by the Heritage Foundation which explains the effect of unrestrained borrowing in simple terms (with pictures!).

In reporting this concession to the blue dog Democrats, CNN actually refers to the compromise $200 -$300 billion increase as Raising the debt limit by a 'little'.How stupid do they think we are? Or a more pertinent question: If we re-elect any of these "fat cat" legislators in 2010, how stupid ARE we?

Update: According to the Wall Street Journal this evening, the debt ceiling will be raised by the originally reported $2 trillion. Stay tuned.